The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-01-15

1
ersoll, whose father for a period boarded IN
the King family; the twelve or fourteen
children Of Parson kimbsll, of the NJ Il
church; and the lively, gay and companion
sble girls, Sarah and Mary, daughters OF
Rev. Chauncey Cook.
Farming was not the predestined occupa
,iop OF this family Of boys, though Solomon
raised one year CROP Of corn of twenty
five acres and remembers taking forty bush
els OF il, shelled by hand by his father, to
Cbicaao o, and getting ten dollars for it. AT
that early day the King Hamilton corn
shelters we're not in the market From
about seventeen or eighteen he took care OF
himself rs best he could. Anxious to make
his way and get some start in the world
he did anything that came to hand, working
where he could. In 1916 getting pecunisry
help from brother he went to Rochester
N. Y, to be treated for sore eyes, and spent
the winter there without getting relief, In
the spring he went further east, hunting up
and visiting family relatives, In the laiI
retarning to Aurora, he worked in wooden
mill clerked in a store. In the fall Of 1913
no entered AS clerk in a dry goods store IN
Batavia and continued two years till taken
in partnership. As yet without money IN
only capital being character and Industry be
became partner by paying interest on c'pi-
,oI invested At the end Of the year he so'i
ont, having cash capital Of $500. These
were the critical years. Habits were form
ing. Associations forming principles taxing
root and bearing fruit. First Of all was the
purpose to live within his means, be it ever
so frugally, get ahead, and keep free from
debt waste nothing of earnings and time
in e1travagant vicious habits, in boyish froi'
ic and carousal He mad too much TO do, and
too high An ambition to get start in the
desire to help the parents rather
than be A burden to them. In this shape he
came TO Ottawa in 1853, and commenced in
the hardware business with his brother John,
taking in after time, Mr. Philo Ilurd whom
Mr.. Hamilton bought out in the winter of
1858 so when the firm became King & Ham
llton
II was in 1854 Just after starting out in
business here that he married Miss Nj.
Brown, of Batavia, who after two short
years Of companionship death sna'ched
,way. This unning blow, and disruption
If home, made the lot heard. But he hal
,lready endured hardness, and been taught
O how reverently to the will of God. The
of religion were inculcated IN his
and he lived by them. AZ the
close Of the war, 1865, the firm had extend
I'd their business as much as it would admit |
Of, and had become tired Of small trades and
endless palaver. With view to possible
wholesale hard ware business. or any favor
able change, the store was sold, and the
proprie,ors out on posts of observation An
opportunity was offered to take up with Mr.,
William Gilman, the manufactures OF agri-
cultural implements, chiefly shelters and
planters. After two years Gilman, from
Of health went out, and the |
irm from then on till now has been
nlarging its sphere, aud quietly yiel ding to
he demands of business. II has not been
by push, but rather as II haV'
No an horror Of being enslaved and over
Mastered by work, has gone modera tely and
arefully on, that which involved capital
f $50, 900 in 1866 now requiring $500, eco.
he product Of their shops finds its way TO
IL surrounding states, Indiana, Ohio, Miss
nri. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, AM California.
Wagon making, an important matter TO the
armer wanting honest work, has been add
ID as a department in the last few yeas.
|, is not precisely in the line Of these
,kelches to speak Of the individuals At the
lead of this establishment, and of the faith
'ul men among the employed. Mr. haml-
on in happy accord in all the aims and Just
principles of Mr.. King is hand in hand with
im in all that pertains to the afluent pub
ic. spirited Christian citizen. From choice
md from having large interests outside, he
las Withdrawn from an active participation
n the oversight Of the partnership estab.
ishment. Their substantial residences are
iiie by side, overlooking the city, and the
ong stretch OF the valley of the Illinois and
Is overshadowing bluffs.
TO his present home Mr.. King took his
amily in 1871. having in 1853 won the at
ections and led to the altar Miss s Esther
of this city. There In the ex-
,rcise of quie, hospitality, with their daught-
II and her husband, they enjoy the fruit.
ge of long years Of honorable tolls. Still
Iilgent and frugal workers. OF oil our six
thousand readers. not one who knows them
,ut would look gratefully on their good for.
ane. and wish that all lives might be as
God, and oil hardships and industries as
apply rewarded, and prove as bsnedcent
D man.
There is very little that is preteRtious
bout Mr.. King. lie will hardly claim it as